A school closer to home: using mealtimes to foster language development, improve girls' nutrition, and align home and school in rural Kenya and Zambia

Co-PI Researcher: Dr. Pamela Wadende, PhD The project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), explores how mealtimes can be used to improve language development, nutrition, and the alignment between home and school in rural Kenya and Zambia. Running from 2020 to 2024, the project is led by Dr. Laura Shapiro (Aston University) with Dr. Pamela Wadende (Kenya) and Dr. Haatembo Moya (Zambia) as co-investigators. The initiative focuses on Early Childhood Education and Development (ECDE) programs, where local teachers play a crucial role in bridging the gap between home and school. The research aims to identify practices at home that benefit language development and nutrition, particularly for girls, who are often disadvantaged in terms of nutrition. By empowering ECDE teachers and parents to share best practices and observe mealtime behaviours, the project seeks to improve the quality of language exposure and ensure that girls receive more nutritious meals, ultimately contributing to their educational and nutritional advancement. Kisii University through two of our staff Dr. Pamela Wadende (Developmental Psychologist and Postgraduate Studies Coordinator at the School of Education and Human Resource Development, Kisii University, Kericho Campus, Kenya) and Dr. Grace Koteny (Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Media, Kisii University, Kericho Campus, Kenya) won a competitive research grant with Aston University – UK. They now have an ongoing collaboration between academics from Kenya, Zambia, and the UK at the Nanyuki site. We as a research office wish to recognize and congratulate their exemplary scholarly output. We encourage our staff during this covid period to emulate them and work on research efforts more and we will keep recognizing such endeavors. The group is developing a new way to address educational disadvantage in rural Africa, through collaboration between academics from Kenya, Zambia and the UK, teachers, families and community groups. The group aims to connect home and school learning by working with teachers from Early Childhood Education and Development programmes (ECDE; for children aged 4–6 years). Their work can be followed at https://www.hometoschool.info/